Honda will be launching its Acura line-up against Lexus

Honda has been ruling the India road from a very long. With great cars like Accord, City, Amaze, and CR-V, the company has surely made a mark in India, although the Japanese firm hasn’t dropped anything for the high-end market in quite a while. Though the plan is still in infancy, there isare whispers that the company will be launching its Acura line-up against Lexus in the country. Toyota has already introduced its right-hand driveLexus models to the country. Following the same strategy, Honda has decided to do the launch its Acura brand in India. The Acura brand has a great lineup of cars and SUVs which are not only known for theirluxury but also their extremely competitive price tags. For now, the volume Indian market for the luxury car is around 35,000 units per annum. The company is, therefore, still skeptical to officially launch their cars in India. The firm stated that they won’t mind launching their vehicles in India, although they would prefer tolet the market grow to at least 1,00,000 units per annum. There may be some reservations to take a step further, but it’s surely possible in a few years. Once the lineup hits the market, it will be ready to take on the bigger players like Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo other than Lexus. Market analysts and auto-enthusiasts have predicted that in order to hit the mark, the company needs to have a wide range of cars in its catalog. The list of cars that have been predicted to hit Indian shoresis as follows:Acura ILX (Compact Sedan), MDX (luxury SUV), RLX (Full-Size Luxury Sedan), TLX (mid-size sports sedan), NSX(Sports Car), and CDX (Luxury CUV). The predicted price of the lineup will begin close tothe 40-50 lakhmark and then go upwards. The Associate Director at IHS Markit, Puneet Gupta,had this to say, “With Indian consumers becoming aspirational, I think it’s time for Japanese brands like Acura to enter a market like India. The consumers want to differentiate themselves from others by buying a unique product. Also, the trust of Indian consumers in Japanese products will definitely give an edge to Honda’s luxury brand Acura. With the entry of Lexus, it’s become imperative for Acura to mark its presence in the country” He was also quoted saying“Though it’s not going be an easy journey as the current tax structure is quite heavy on this segment of cars. Moreover, competition is stiff and even German premium brands have not been able to establish themselves due to the volatile policy in the country. Additional cess (of 10 percent) may further spoil the party for premium OEMs in the country.” With the coming of time, it will be great to see two great contenders like Acura and Lexus fighting to compete inour market. With so many great vehicles launching in the market, there is a huge possibility that other companies might also step up their game too.The near future surely looks interesting for all the auto-enthusiasts in the country. Acura is also known for being the first luxury brand from Japan. It has a wide audience all around the world, especially in countries like USA, Russia, Mexico, and Canada. The Acura brand was first launched in both USA and Canada in the year 1986. After that, the company launched its series in Hong Kong in 1991, Mexico in 2004, China in 2006, Russia in 2006. Lastly, the series was introduced in Russia in 2014 and Kuwait in 2015.Although all of these countries are left-hand drive, the company is working over a right-hand global variant, which is good news for India.